# Dedication explained — The Rescue

> Chapter companion for The Rescue by Joseph Conrad.

## What happens

The dedication page of the book, inscribing the tale to Frederic Courtland Penfield, the last American ambassador to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in gratitude for his rescue of distressed travelers during the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

## Themes in this chapter

### Sacrifice and Rescue

The dedication highlights the rescue of distressed travelers, a theme that resonates with the novel's broader motifs of aid and intervention.

## Key lines

> To Frederic Courtland Penfield Last Ambassador of The United States of America to the Late Austrian Empire, This old time tale is gratefully inscribed in memory of the rescue of certain distressed travellers effected by him in the world’s Great Storm of The Year 1914

This book is dedicated to Frederic Courtland Penfield, the final U.S. ambassador to the now-defunct Austrian Empire, as a thank-you for helping stranded travelers during the great upheaval of 1914.

_The dedication sets a tone of gratitude and historical remembrance, linking the tale to real-world events._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_rescue_se/chapters/dedication
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_rescue_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_rescue_se/chapters